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Chuck Boone posted:Last night, Maduro spent quite a bit of time talking about the Jason Burr [Jason Bourne] series on his weekly television show. He also suggested that the film be used for educational purposes to teach people about how the CIA is bad. Stalin at the movies
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Aug 24, 2016 18:16
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My ex-Schlumberger buddy heard from those of his friends that still work at the company they're going to withdraw from yet another oil field because the locals are trying to extort them into paying a protection fee. Apparently they went to PDVSA and got told to just pay that poo poo like all the other service companies do 
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Aug 24, 2016 19:08
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Labradoodle posted:My ex-Schlumberger buddy heard from those of his friends that still work at the company they're going to withdraw from yet another oil field because the locals are trying to extort them into paying a protection fee. Apparently they went to PDVSA and got told to just pay that poo poo like all the other service companies do Would actually paying that possibly be a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for a US company? In any case, looks like things are only going to get worse. I assume the recall isn't happening this year, but what is the PSUV planning to do with another two years in office and the whole country hating their guts?
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Aug 24, 2016 19:39
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P-Mack posted:Would actually paying that possibly be a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for a US company? Yes. In fact, it's nearly impossible to do business in Venezuela today without running afoul of the FCPA.
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Aug 24, 2016 19:43
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Venezuela called for a MERCOSUR meeting today, and Uruguay was the only country that showed up. Yesterday, Argentina., Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay met without Venezuela. Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay have been emphatic in their rejection of Venezuela's presidency, and it's hard to see how the organization will move forward from this. Venezuela's assumed the presidency, and it's refusing to step down. I can easily see the other countries voting to kick Venezuela out (of Mercosur, possibly), and Venezuela still showing up to the meetings. P-Mack posted:In any case, looks like things are only going to get worse. I assume the recall isn't happening this year, but what is the PSUV planning to do with another two years in office and the whole country hating their guts? My guess is that they will continue to do the same thing they've been doing for the last several years now: continue to devote themselves entirely to looting the country dry while at the same time blaming the CIA/DEA/United States/Spain/right-wing/Colombia/imperialism/capitalism/fascism for everything that's happening in the country. The September 1 protest is coming up. It's going to be interesting to see what the turnout is, and if the demonstration manages to put any kind of pressure on the government to allow the recall to happen this year. I think that on September 1st we'll have a much better idea of how the PSUV plans to ride this whole thing out.
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Aug 24, 2016 20:08
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P-Mack posted:Would actually paying that possibly be a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for a US company? 2 years is more than enough to finish looting whats left of the country before running off to Russia or China.
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Aug 24, 2016 20:09
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P-Mack posted:Would actually paying that possibly be a violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for a US company? I'm not familiar with said act, but it would be a terrible idea all-around. From what I heard the amount demanded was laughably small, but if they acquiesced it would be open season on Schlumberger. For one, gangs would start kidnapping their workers and extorting the company directly. They're in a very uncomfortable position. Chuck Boone posted:The September 1 protest is coming up. It's going to be interesting to see what the turnout is, and if the demonstration manages to put any kind of pressure on the government to allow the recall to happen this year. I think that on September 1st we'll have a much better idea of how the PSUV plans to ride this whole thing out. I'm incredibly nervous about that day. It's not so much that I'm worried about what might happen but about what might not – if the day comes and goes without any sign of change, then that's pretty much it for the recall referendum, the opposition's relevance in the short-term, and the National Assembly.
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Aug 25, 2016 15:02
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TheImmigrant posted:Yes. In fact, it's nearly impossible to do business in Venezuela today without running afoul of the FCPA. That's why US companies hire foreign local companies as "handlers" and have plausible deniability. Oil companies, defense, agricultural, and pharmaceuticals are shady industries. Oh and cigarettes, gently caress might as well just list all international companies
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Aug 25, 2016 16:48
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The 1 Sept march is going to be a massive failure, we are already under the thumb of the Cubans who advise Maduro in how to keep a country subjugated to their will.
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Aug 25, 2016 18:45
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Labradoodle posted:I'm incredibly nervous about that day. It's not so much that I'm worried about what might happen but about what might not – if the day comes and goes without any sign of change, then that's pretty much it for the recall referendum, the opposition's relevance in the short-term, and the National Assembly. Yeah, I hear you. I think a lot of people are feeling that way. I certainly am. There's supposed to be a gathering outside of the Venezuelan consulate here in Toronto on September 1 (and in Vancouver and Ottawa as well). I'm going to try my best to drop by for a bit to see who turns up.
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Aug 25, 2016 23:01
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Someone tried to steal my front tires and left them barely screwed in and I almost killed myself driving home jfc
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Aug 26, 2016 02:09
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El Hefe posted:Someone tried to steal my front tires and left them barely screwed in and I almost killed myself driving home jfc Stay safe friend.
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Aug 26, 2016 02:40
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how do you like your tire cooked?
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Aug 26, 2016 02:42
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El Hefe posted:Someone tried to steal my front tires and left them barely screwed in and I almost killed myself driving home jfc Criminals these days are wishy washy bunglers. ...Logistically, why would you loosen them all at once? Why not remove one entirely before you start on the second? That way you can at least book it with product if something goes wrong.
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Aug 26, 2016 02:50
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Its really weird, maybe someone is trying to kill me like in a telenovela...
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Aug 26, 2016 02:58
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On the 1st of September, don't forget: A LAS ARMAS, GENTE DE VENEZUELA 
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Aug 26, 2016 03:07
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El Hefe posted:Its really weird, maybe someone is trying to kill me like in a telenovela... They know you post here, which Glenn Beck assures me is a CIA front. 
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Aug 26, 2016 04:03
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El Hefe posted:Its really weird, maybe someone is trying to kill me like in a telenovela... El Hefe, it was I, your long lost brother Don Barudak who lost my memory in a ranching accident and was secretly smuggled out from Venezuela those long years ago when my Uncle, who is secretly actually both our fathers, felt it would be a chance to make amends while also removing me from the family tree to ensure that only you inherited his vast fortune, and I am now back for what is rightfully mine, beginning with your tire bolts.
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Aug 26, 2016 04:41
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Marry me, you beautiful handsome soap hand model  .Negrostrike posted:On the 1st of September, don't forget: A LAS ARMAS, GENTE DE VENEZUELA Don't all go to the march Venezgoons, we need at least a few still living ones to tell us about the massacre.
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Aug 26, 2016 05:24
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someone live stream it. or at least stream it.
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Aug 26, 2016 06:25
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GreyjoyBastard posted:Criminals these days are wishy washy bunglers. To make sure you can actually get them all loose while still on the grouns, I guess. That's how I do it, when changing my wheels of course.
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Aug 26, 2016 08:19
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mobby_6kl posted:To make sure you can actually get them all loose while still on the grouns, I guess. That's how I do it, when changing my wheels of course. ...of course.
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Aug 26, 2016 08:49
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The wheels thing reminds me that yesterday I spoke with a friend that lives in Valencia and he finally sold everything he owned and is moving to Miami by the end of next month. Why now? Two cars ambushed him while he was on his own, three guys got down with guns and he rammed two of them and made a getaway between shots. He's pretty sure one of the would-be kidnappers was seriously injured, too. So now he's scared to gou out at all, fearing the criminals are looking for him to settle the score (this is incredibly common). He sold his car already for a fraction of the price (due to wanting to get rid of it soon and the gunshots spread across it) and is considering dyeing his hair just in case! I'm just glad he's finally getting out, but life there is definetly a Telenovela.
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Aug 26, 2016 10:26
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El Hefe posted:Lol Vlex I hope you're getting paid a poo poo load of money I work in academia, to give you an idea of how not worth it this is to me. My plan from now until the point at which we have to start making decisions about fieldwork timetables (mid-November) is to feed my boss occasional updates about how absolutely jodido it is at the moment in your country. You guys have been a great help in that regard. The irony is not lost on me that most Venezuelans in this thread are trying to leave, while for some retarded reason I'm trying to get in, stay in a hammock in the wilds of the Orinoco for five weeks, and somehow not starve, get kidnapped, or straight-up murdered by the various vested interests in the Amazonas region (smugglers, illegal miners, bored kids, narcotraficantes, the police, like four branches of the military, the GNB, you get the idea). edit: one of the minerals that Amazonas happens to have in relative abundance is called coltan (cobalt-tantalum or something?), its components are used a lot in electronics. It's an extremely valuable and violently contested resource. You get at it by making big deep pits in sandy or sandy-silty soils which are common along the Orinoco. Guess what an archaeological excavation looks like to an untrained eye? Vlex fucked around with this message at 11:33 on Aug 26, 2016 |
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Aug 26, 2016 11:28
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Vlex posted:I work in academia, to give you an idea of how not worth it this is to me. My plan from now until the point at which we have to start making decisions about fieldwork timetables (mid-November) is to feed my boss occasional updates about how absolutely jodido it is at the moment in your country. You guys have been a great help in that regard. It sounds like your plan instead should be to learn how to refine cocaine and conflict minerals in the middle of the jungle. That way, when gangs / crimelords / cartels invade your camp, you can make yourself useful and they might not murder you. Eventually, after years slaving away as a jungle chemist in the deep Amazon up the Orinoco, you might have a chance to escape when all the guards are throwing a coke & prostitute party. Or, if you speak Spanish and you're a people person, maybe you'll even become one of them. Your friends will see a picture of you in the news in 10 years and you're wearing an unbuttoned camo shirt, chest hair flowing out alongside your gold chains, a belt of 7.62mm ammunition running across your body, topped off by gold aviators and a cigar rolled out of coca leaves. E: I just realized that my post reads like something MIGF would post and seriously mean it. My serious suggestion is, there's no loving way your job is good enough that it's worth going into the rainforest to archeology some old whatever. There are plenty of other dig sites to go to. Saladman fucked around with this message at 16:15 on Aug 26, 2016 |
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Aug 26, 2016 12:04
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Vlex posted:I work in academia, to give you an idea of how not worth it this is to me. My plan from now until the point at which we have to start making decisions about fieldwork timetables (mid-November) is to feed my boss occasional updates about how absolutely jodido it is at the moment in your country. You guys have been a great help in that regard. It happens to now be even more dangerous before with actual massacres of illegal miners going on with relative regularity and absolute impunity. Illegal miners consisting mostly of city people out of a job looking to make a living.
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Aug 26, 2016 15:55
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They just grounded every GA flight in the country from today until Sept 5th, they also banned every drone in Caracas. Opposition mayor Warner Jimenez also has an arrest warrant against him, another political prisoner...
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Aug 27, 2016 23:44
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El Hefe you were leaving the country for the US right? How soon until you are out.
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Aug 28, 2016 01:44
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I'm not leaving just yet, but thankfully at least now I can do it if I want to / need to. Tbh I don't know how this country is still functioning, there are news reports that banks aren't going to be able to handle the demand for money next month with the minimum wage increase coupled with the insane inflation rate. Banks already don't let you cash checks worth more than Bs. 20000 and the minimum wage next month is going to be more than that.
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Aug 28, 2016 02:33
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mobby_6kl posted:To make sure you can actually get them all loose while still on the grouns, I guess. That's how I do it, when changing my wheels of course. Oh duh, that makes sense. I am bad at cars and/or crime. Edit: Hugoon, WHAT THE FUCKBALLS 
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Aug 28, 2016 02:35
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El Hefe posted:I'm not leaving just yet, but thankfully at least now I can do it if I want to / need to. This is another major concern we face - all salaries for our workers in the field are of course in cash and we can't pay them in USD because they don't have the means or contacts to change them into BsF. "Backpacks of cash" is not an exaggeration, in fact, we had suitcases. No nice crisp bills either, these were universally tattered, wrecked little pieces of flimsy paper that somehow were still in circulation. A 500 and 1000 BsF note, while doing nothing to actually alleviate the underlying problem, would at least make everything logistically far less problematic. We cleaned our black market dealer out of 100 BsF notes...by changing 400 USD.
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Aug 28, 2016 14:29
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(NSFW) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cq401dFW8AA7VXY.jpgMODNOTE: Don't inline images, not even in spoiler tags!This is Venezuela. Those people on the background are queuing up for food. Somebody fucked around with this message at 22:20 on Aug 28, 2016 |
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Aug 28, 2016 14:45
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fnox posted:(NSFW) holy loving poo poo, thats something out of a dystopian novels/movie/game.
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Aug 29, 2016 01:18
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The Hercon polling firm released the results of its latest survey. Here are some of the results:
The survey had a sample size of 1,200 registered voters, was conducted between August 19 and 26, and has a margin of error of +/- 4.89% with a level of confidence of 95%. Also, I just ran into an interesting video on El Pitazo. It's an interview with a member of a CLAP group, the food distribution system the PSUV set up earlier this year to finally drive the last spike through the heart of the fascists. In the video, the CLAP member - a woman named Rorianny Suarez - talks about some of the things that aren't working about the CLAP, and calls on the national government to do more to take care of the people's needs. Here's the video along with my translation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Xr66We1pIY quote:Rorianny Suarez: As my hat says, I’m chavista, and right now I’m still involved in the revolutionary process. But, just as support them [the PSUV] with votes and everything, we demand that they also support us, and that they give us the food that we need.
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Aug 29, 2016 01:26
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I'm hearing a ton of rumors of clandestine organizations willing to go all the way to Miraflores on September 1st, whether the MUD is with them or not. I believe them, I think there is sufficient frustration to overwhelm any police blockade or PSUV march and demand Maduro to step down immediately at the presidential palace, it will all depend on turnout though, if there's enough people in the street, we might see some action going on. However the official plan that the MUD has is very much a repeat of the other dozen protests they've done attempting to reach the CNE headquarters on downtown Caracas. As far as I'm aware of they don't want Maduro to step down immediately as they are bargaining more for the total obliteration of PSUV as a political party before going to the polls, but I don't think they'll be stupid enough to refuse a golden opportunity to get Maduro to quit, particularly against the will of the people. To be clear, I'm saying clandestine organizations as there are legally only 3 political parties in Venezuela according to the CNE, Un Nuevo Tiempo, MUD and PSUV, and these are actions taken by none of these groups. fnox fucked around with this message at 14:56 on Aug 29, 2016 |
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Aug 29, 2016 14:52
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fnox posted:I'm hearing a ton of rumors of clandestine organizations willing to go all the way to Miraflores on September 1st, whether the MUD is with them or not. I believe them, I think there is sufficient frustration to overwhelm any police blockade or PSUV march and demand Maduro to step down immediately at the presidential palace, it will all depend on turnout though, if there's enough people in the street, we might see some action going on. That would make sense. Nobody who crossed the entire country would be satisfied with attending a rally, joining in a brief march on the East side of Caracas and then packing it up and going back home. Hell, I'm sure some of the planners are counting on it (aside from Capriles, who's all bluster). As for Maduro stepping down, I don't think that's going to happen unless we get people on the streets of Caracas constantly, which will be difficult if they don't feel supported by the opposition leaders. If I were the government, I would simply say "Oh well, since you insist, let's collect the 20% in two weeks" to take the wind out of the protest and then go right back to loving that timetable up once everyone goes back home. The irony is that a lot of these opposition leaders openly criticized la Salida two years ago for being reckless and now they're organizing a protest called "The seizing of Caracas". I mean, gently caress you. That sounds just as radical as La Salida and they're bringing people from all over the country to protest in the capital. If that's not a recipe for unrest, then I don't know what is.
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Aug 29, 2016 15:19
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Three days ago, Mitzy Capriles de Ledezma arrived at the Simon Bolivar International Airport from a trip somewhere. Mitzy is the wife of Antonio Ledezma, the mayor of Caracas who was arrested last year and is currently under house arrest for medical reasons awaiting trial. Anyway, as soon as Mitzy cleared customs she was greeted by a SEBIN agent dressed in all black who shoved a camera in her face and recorded her while she walked out of the terminal. Here's the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZmCrxrpd2g The SEBIN is kind of a mix between the FBI and the CIA, but I think it's best to think of them as the political police, almost a Stasi-wannabe. Mitzy hasn't been charged with any crime. She's a private citizen whose only "crime" is being married to a political prisoner and advocating for his release and that of all other political prisoners. This is the kind of harassment that people can expect in Venezuela for daring to speak out against the government. Also, this blog has a really interesting article up today from a man who lives in the Antimano barrio in Caracas. It's in English, and in the article he interviews people who live in the area about how hard it is to find food and how disillusioned they are with the Maduro government. Labradoodle posted:The irony is that a lot of these opposition leaders openly criticized la Salida two years ago for being reckless and now they're organizing a protest called "The seizing of Caracas". I mean, gently caress you. That sounds just as radical as La Salida and they're bringing people from all over the country to protest in the capital. If that's not a recipe for unrest, then I don't know what is. If anything, La Toma de Caracas [toma could also mean "takeover", no?] sounds more aggressive than "The Exit". People "exit" things all the time - bad relationships, cell phone plans, etc. But you don't often "seize" stuff.
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Aug 29, 2016 15:50
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I'm sure Maduro will respond reasonably when 100,000 CIA agents try to storm the Miraflores.
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Aug 29, 2016 16:30
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And another political prisoner, now Yon Goicochea, it seems that they are arresting 1 or 2 opposition leaders per day now.
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Aug 29, 2016 22:37
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Are there any indications that this is going to be anything beyond the wet farts the MUD have managed to organise before?
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Aug 29, 2016 23:07
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